Information Technology Policies and Standards

Title

Employee Internet Use Policy

Type

Policy

Category

General

Status

Approved

Approved

01/09/2013

Revised

12/20/2012

To Be Reviewed

01/09/2015

Scope

City of Albuquerque employees access the Internet from City-owned computers and mobile devices. This access is intended for business-related purposes (such as communicating with customers, suppliers, and colleagues, to research relevant topics and to obtain useful business information).

Policy

Policy Definitions:
When determining whether an employee's use of the Internet is appropriate, one may ask: "If I were doing this same activity in some other way (e.g. telephone, library, in person, by hand), would this activity be considered appropriate?" Additionally, an employee's use of the Internet should not cause incremental expense to the City, nor should City time be wasted. Internet access is to be used for City official business. Employees should not play games, send mass mailings or run private businesses.

The public may access the Internet from City-owned computers at a number of public locations. The City provides Internet access as a service to our citizens. Access by library patrons is covered under the Library Computer Use Policy.

All existing laws and City policies apply to employee conduct when accessing the Internet on City-owned computers and mobile devices, especially those that deal with intellectual property protection, privacy, misuse of City resources, sexual harassment, data security, and confidentiality.

Policy Provisions:

City Internet access is provided to employees for the purposes of study, research, service and other activities, which, with the exception of occasional de minimis personal use, must be for purpose of conducting official business or in support of the City's mission.

Each City employee using the City's Internet access shall identify themselves honestly, accurately, and completely when corresponding or participating in online activities.

City Internet facilities and computing resources must not be used to knowingly violate the laws and regulations of the United States or any other nation, or the laws and regulations of any state, city, province, or local jurisdiction in any material way.

Employees have no right of ownership or expectation of personal privacy as to their City Internet usage. It is possible to monitor Internet usage, and the City reserves the right to inspect any and all network traffic and files stored on City resources. The City reserves the right, without notice, to limit or restrict any employee's Internet usage.

Offensive content may not be accessed, displayed, archived, stored, distributed, edited, or recorded using City network, printing, or computing resources. Offensive content includes, but is not limited to, pornography, sexual comments or images, profanity, racial slurs, gender-specific comments, or any content that can reasonably offend someone on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental or physical disability, veteran status or any protected status of an individual or that individual’s relatives or associates. Any content that may be interpreted as libelous, defamatory or slanderous is prohibited.

City Internet access shall not be used to conduct personal business, play computer games, gamble, run a business, conduct political campaigns, for personal gain, or to take part in any prohibited or illegal activity.

No employee may use City Internet access to post a message to an Internet message board, chat room, "weblog," "listserv," or other Internet communication facility, except in the conduct of official business or support of the City's mission. The message must clearly identify the author as a City employee, by name, with the employee's official return City e-mail address or other contact information. Any opinions expressed must include a disclaimer stating that the opinions are those of the author and not necessarily those of the City of Albuquerque.

Nothing in this policy shall be construed as requiring the City to provide any technical resources or assistance in support of any Internet use which is not directly related to the conduct of official City business.

No employee may use City facilities knowingly to download or distribute pirated software or data. Any software or files downloaded via the Internet may be used only in ways that are consistent with their licenses or copyrights.

No employee may use City facilities to monitor use of City computing or network resources by any other individual, or perform any probing, scanning, "sniffing," or vulnerability testing, except as otherwise provided by City policies or law.

No employee may use the City's Internet facilities to deliberately propagate any virus, worm, Trojan horse, trap-door, or back-door program code or knowingly disable or overload any computer system, network, or to circumvent any system intended to protect the privacy or security of another user.

No employee may install, remove, or otherwise modify any hardware or software for the purpose of bypassing, avoiding, or defeating any filtering, monitoring, or other security measures the City may have in place, except as otherwise provided by City policies.

Employees shall not assume that any data or databases are automatically subject to public inspection under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act. There are numerous exclusions to this law, and such data may not be forwarded, uploaded, or otherwise transmitted to non-City entities without appropriate approvals.

Infractions of these policies constitute misuse of City assets and therefore are considered violations of the City of Albuquerque Employee Code of Conduct and may result in disciplinary actions sanctioned under relevant provisions of the City Personnel Rules and Regulations.

Rationale

The City of Albuquerque provides employees access to the vast information resources of the Internet with the intention of increasing productivity. While Internet access has the potential to help you do your job faster or smarter, there is justifiable concern that it can also be misused. Such misuse can waste time and potentially violate laws, ordinances, or other City policies. This Internet usage policy is designed to help you understand the expectations for the use of these resources.